Police stumped by gold shop shooting

PHUKET CITY: Police say they have no leads in their investigation into the murder of Theeradet Patarapranee, 48, who was gunned down while closing up the family’s shop, Bangkok Gold, on Phang Nga Rd on Thursday last week.

Pol Lt Col Somkid Boonrat of Phuket City Police Station, who is leading the investigation, quoted witnesses as reporting that a gunman on a motorcycle rode up to K. Theeradet, shot him four times, made sure that he was dead and then rode away.

All four bullets, from a .38 handgun, struck K. Teeradet, one of them hitting him in the nose and exiting through the back of his neck.

“We are continuing our investigation,” Col Somkid said. “However, we have yet to discover a motive for the murder – K. Theeradet’s family say that he was a nice man. We have little evidence from the scene; the gunman’s face was covered, along with the license plate of the bike.

“But we are trying to find more evidence pointing to the person behind the murder,” he said.